I found this article on photojournalism and photography from the New York Times that says, basically, a professional photographer is losing his/her edge because of the internet and amateur photographers who post their pictures online.
(By the way, I’m a photojournalism major at BU…graduating next month…awesome)
Apparently, there are a lot of amateur photographers out there who are selling their pictures to stock-photo companies like Getty. The problem is, and I quote from the NYT article, “amateurs are largely happy to be paid anything for their photos.” This means stock-photo companies (and maybe some news organizations) will pay professional photographers less money for their photos because they can get pictures from amateurs for a lot less and sometimes for free.
I’m not trying to bash amateur photographers. It’s great that they are getting money for their photos. But I believe there’s this idea out there that photojournalism and photography aren’t real professions and that it’s an easy field anyone can be a part of. They’re never taken seriously.
It’s true that “anyone can take a photo,” but “not everyone can take a good photo.” And that’s the difference between professionals and amateurs.
….but maybe I should start posting more pictures on flickr so I can get a deal with Getty and make some money on the side? You know, graduating from college doesn’t guarantee you a job…wish it did though, haha.
Here’s a link to the NYT article.
Any thoughts? Think I’m crazy?
